The question of whether Gen Z is slacking off at work, one of the internet’s favorite debates, has been reignited thanks to a new workplace survey.
According to a recent study from Software Finder, 80% of Gen Z workers said that they’ve faked productivity after completing their actual work tasks.
This compares to 68% of millennials and 58% of Gen X, making them more likely to be the ones still clocking out even after checking off their to-do list. Taken at face value, these stats might confirm every preconceived notion you might have about younger workers. But upon closer examination, it turns out there’s a much more interesting story to tell.
Part of what makes these findings worth paying attention to is that they reflect a workplace that looks very different from the one previous generations entered. Many employees today spend most of their day in front of a computer, communicating through Slack, Teams, Zoom, and email. In those environments, being seen online can sometimes matter just as much as the work itself. That creates a strange incentive where looking productive becomes another task on the checklist.
Does This Study Point to Performance, or Laziness?
On average, employees spending their extra hours appearing busy are dedicating almost five hours per week to maintain the illusion of continued productivity. That translates to almost seven full weeks every year.
These employees faked being busy by doing things like:
- Move their computer mouse on occasion
- Keep computer or web browser tabs open
- Deliberately wait to reply to non-urgent messages
- Be active online even after work hours end
Surprising are not necessarily the acts of fake busyness, but the reason behind them. Over half of workers surveyed who admitted to faking activity said that they finish work about an hour before official end of workday. A portion of employees avoided rushing to finish by design, because getting finished too soon resulted in more assignments and not more downtime.
That last point is probably the most telling. If employees learn that working faster simply earns them another pile of work, it’s easy to see why some would slow their pace or spread tasks throughout the day. Whether that’s the right response is up for debate, but it’s a fairly predictable outcome when efficiency isn’t rewarded.
Why Gen Z Tops the List
Having entered the workforce at the height of remote work practices and remote collaboration tools along with increasing surveillance, many young people have felt that productivity at work is monitored not just for results, but for appearing busy and productive. More than half of those in the survey identified workplace culture as the primary reason they are willing to “fake work,” with one’s manager contributing the second biggest reason. Workplaces, the majority said, place productivity over visible activity.
Seventy-five percent of employees in companies using employee monitoring tools say it contributes to more stress than productivity, and those in monitored workplaces are significantly more likely to engage in fake activity. In essence, instead of avoiding work altogether, many are avoiding the perception of having nothing to do.
This may also explain why Gen Z stands out in the survey. They entered careers during a period when remote work became mainstream, digital collaboration became constant, and software made it easier than ever to track activity. For many younger professionals, maintaining an online presence has simply become part of the job, whether or not it actually improves the quality of their work.
Knowledge Work Has a Visibility Problem
The more interesting conclusion drawn from these survey results is about more than Gen Z. It relates to a changing reality in the way we work. This is specifically a modern knowledge-work dilemma. Concrete poured or not. Car engines repaired, restaurant services attended or electrical wires placed; work is tangible and easily verified as done or not done.
Work in the knowledge area such as research and development, design planning, writing, analysis, brainstorming and tackling complex problems can involve long periods during which nothing that immediately appears visible might be occurring outside of their activity or output. In turn, knowledge employees might feel pressure to display activity rather than achieve outcomes. Work productivity becomes easier to artificially manufacture than performance outcomes the easier it becomes to monitor activity over performance.
Anyone who has spent time in a creative or analytical role knows that some of the most valuable work happens away from the keyboard. Solving a problem might happen during a walk, while driving home, or after staring at the same document for thirty minutes. Those moments don’t always look productive to someone watching a status indicator, but they can be the moments that produce the best ideas.
So Why Is This Potentially Good News?
If viewed through one lens, this information may reinforce the old notion that Gen Z has a lacking work ethic. I look at it the opposite way. This survey shed light on what I suspect many employees of all generations know privately, which is that many organizations continue to value presence over performance.
If the need for performing work on an ongoing basis is prevalent, then the issues may lie not with employees, but with companies measuring the wrong things. What is the most important thing here is that such research is being publicized, forcing companies to examine how much real value is being provided by staff versus the amount of “work” they look busy doing.
The key question that should guide those building workplace cultures of tomorrow would be what employees accomplish versus how busy they appear. Even as AI, process automation and productivity workflows are continually making knowledge workers more efficient, organizations should focus on producing meaningful outcomes and not just the pretense of busyness.
The Real Moral of the Story
While Gen Z might be at the forefront of this trend, they are undoubtedly not the origin. Gen Z is in fact revealing a decades-old convention in the workforce: the belief that productivity equals presence.
As work continues to evolve, companies will have an opportunity to rethink what they actually reward. The organizations that get ahead will likely be the ones that give employees more autonomy, evaluate them based on results, and trust them to manage their time without feeling the need to perform productivity for an audience.
If the insights gained from this survey lead to cultures built on trust, autonomy, and actual results, then this research will surely benefit all workers in the near future.
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